Written on the Wind

This article is about the film. For the song by Roger Daltrey, see Written on the Wind (song).
Written on the Wind
Theatrical release poster by Reynold Brown
Directed byDouglas Sirk
Screenplay byGeorge Zuckerman
Based onWritten on the Wind
by Robert Wilder
Produced byAlbert Zugsmith
Starring
CinematographyRussell Metty
Edited byRussell F. Schoengarth
Music byFrank Skinner
Production
company
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release dates
  • October 5, 1956 (1956-10-05) (London)[2]
  • December 25, 1956 (1956-12-25) (United States)
Running time
99 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$1.3 million[3]
Box office$4.3 million (North America rentals)[4]

Written on the Wind is a 1956 American Southern Gothic[5] melodrama film directed by Douglas Sirk and starring Rock Hudson, Lauren Bacall, Robert Stack, and Dorothy Malone. It follows the complicated relationships among dysfunctional family members of a Texas oil dynasty: its alcoholic heir, his wife (a former secretary for the family company), his childhood best friend, and his ruthless, self-destructive sister.

The screenplay by George Zuckerman was based on Robert Wilder's 1946 novel of the same title, a thinly disguised account (or roman à clef) of the real-life scandal involving torch singer Libby Holman and her husband, tobacco heir Zachary Smith Reynolds, who was killed under mysterious circumstances at his family estate in 1932. A film version of the novel was optioned by RKO Pictures and International Pictures in 1946, but the project was shelved because of threats from the Reynolds family. Universal Pictures acquired the rights to the novel after absorbing International Pictures, and began developing the film in 1955. Zuckerman made numerous alterations in his screenplay to avoid lawsuits from the Reynolds family, among them shifting the setting from North Carolina to Texas, and having the family fortune originate in oil rather than tobacco.

Filmed in Los Angeles in late 1955 and early 1956, Written on the Wind was released theatrically in England in the fall of 1956 before opening in the United States on Christmas Day 1956. The film broke opening-day box office records for Universal, and was a financial success. Malone won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress,[6] Stack was nominated for Best Supporting Actor, and Victor Young and Sammy Cahn were nominated for Best Original Song.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference afi was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Brien, Alan (October 4, 1956). "Poverty and Bliss for Miss Bacall". Evening Standard. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ "Reversing Poor Broadway Showing". Variety. April 3, 1957. p. 7.
  4. ^ Cohn, Lawrence (October 15, 1990). "All-Time Film Rental Champs". Variety. p. M196.
  5. ^ Wigley, Samuel (July 10, 2017). "10 great southern gothic films". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on December 10, 2021.
  6. ^ Dorothy Malone Wins Supporting Actress: 1957 Oscars